A Maths Starter Of The Day

Complete the following pattern:

Strange that there have, as yet, been no teacher comments for this starter. Does everyone understand it or is it a less visited starter as the date falls in school holidays for a number of schools?An effective way to reveal the answer if no one in the class gets it is by asking the students to 'say what they see'. So the first line they may say they see one one (which is recorded as the second line). The second line can be described as two ones (which is recorded as the third line). The third line is one two and one one etc.Difficult to write... hope you understand!

Andrew McMahon, Jumeirah Bacc School, Dubai

I made a riddle for my class....'If you read it aloud, it will help you find the past!' I also told them that it wasn't too mathematical and to think outside the box.

Glenda Collis, Elgin, Moray

Children found this one really tricky as they wanted to 'add'. It was very clever and great to allow the children to think 'out of the box'.

MR Hall,

I love this starter so simple when you read it line by line.

MYP1 ICS, London

ICS London students really enjoyed this starter. As a class we started by reciting out loud the sequence and listening to our voices. The students were reminded to not think about any maths operations when completing this sequence. By reading out loud the sequence, a student picked up on the plurals. This got the class started, and they were able to work out the sequence.A really enjoyable "starter" but lasted 45 minutes.

Cassie Menne, Campbelltown

I remember this from when I was at uni ...and I have used it to try to get kids to look at problems differently.

How did you use this starter? Can you suggest
how teachers could present or develop this resource? Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive
feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for Maths teachers anywhere in the world.Click here to enter your comments.

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Excellent, I would like to see more like this
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Didn't really capture the interest of the students
Not for me! I wouldn't use this type of activity.

Answer

Each line of the sequence describes the previous line
The next line would begin "Three ones, one three, one two ......

Extension

In what row will the number 4 first appear?

In what row will the number of terms equal 20?

What would happen if this pattern started with a different number instead of one?

Extension Answers

Here are the first 10 rows of the sequence:

1

1 1

2 1

1 2 1 1

1 1 1 2 2 1

3 1 2 2 1 1

1 3 1 1 2 2 2 1

1 1 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 1

3 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 2 2 1

1 3 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 3 1 1 2 2 1 1

The number 4 will never appear (can you prove it?)

In the tenth row the number of terms equals 20?

The last extension question is an open ended investigation.

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Have you read Craig's book yet?

Craig Barton must surely be the voice of Mathematics teachers in the UK. His wonderful podcasts interviewing the industry experts have culminated in this wonderful book. As Craig says: "I genuinely believe I have never taught mathematics better, and my students have never learned more. I just wish I had known all of this twelve years ago..." more...

"How I wish I’d taught maths' is an extraordinary and important book. Part guide to research, part memoir, part survival handbook, it’s a wonderfully accessible guide to the latest research on teaching mathematics, presented in a disarmingly honest and readable way. I know of no other book that presents as much usable research evidence on the dos and don’ts of mathematics teaching in such a clear and practical way. No matter how long you have been doing it, if you teach mathematics—from primary school to university—this book is for you." Dylan Wiliam, Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment, UCL.

Casio Classwiz Calculator

There is currently a lot of talk about this new calculator being the best in its price range for use in the Maths classroom. The new ClassWiz features a high-resolution display making it easier to view numerical formulas and symbols but it isn't a graphical calculator as such (it has the capacity to draw graphs on your smart phone or tablet, via a scannable QR code and an app).

As well as basic spreadsheet mode and an equation solving feature you also get the ability to solve quadratic, cubic or quartic polynomial inequalities and the answer is given just as it should be written down, using the correct inequality symbols!

This calculator has a high-performance processor and twice the memory of previous models ensuring speedy operation and superior computational power.more...

Teacher, do your students have
access to computers?Do they have iPads or Laptops in Lessons?

Whether your students each have a TabletPC, a Surface or a Mac,
this activity lends itself to eLearning (Engaged Learning).